Shipping and display carton

ABSTRACT

A shipping carton is converted to use as a display carton using perforated lines and precut openings that together define a line circumscribing the carton. At any location at which the perforated line crosses an edge of the carton of another perforated line, a precut opening provides a clean separation. Additionally, no section of the perforated lines parallels an adjacent fold line.

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/653,742entitled “Shipping and Display Carton” filed on Sep. 2, 2003.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a shipping and displaycarton. More specifically, the invention relates to a slipping carton,and a method of making a shipping carton, that is easily transformedinto a display carton having neatly severed walls.

2. Description of Related Art

Millions of dollars are spent each year in packaging products fortransportation from the manufacturer to the store. Rather than requirethese products to be removed from the container and individually placedon shelves, it has long been desirable to ship products in cartons thatcan quickly be converted to provide a display format. Because of thevariety of products and their differing needs, many different types ofshipping and display cartons have been made. Examples of combinationshipping and display cartons can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,152,079 toMott, U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,875 to Praetorius, U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,811 toHardison et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,728 to Sheffer, to name a few,all of which are incorporated by reference. Each of these patentsattempts to provide a convertible carton that will provide adequateprotection for its contents during shipping, then transform into anaesthetic display carton.

By far the most common material used for shipping/display cartons iscorrugated cardboard. This material is strong, lightweight, relativelyinexpensive, and recyclable. When converting a corrugated shippingcarton into a display carton, it would be desirable to have a cartonthat is easy to open, yet presents a pleasing appearance withoutinadvertent tears. Several means already exist that attempt to achievethis goal, although all have drawbacks. These drawbacks will be furtherexplained using an exemplary carton, shown in FIG. 1 a.

FIG. 1A shows a prior art design for a shipping and display carton 100that has the shape of a rectangular prism measuring about 9¼×19½×9½inches. The carton has four solid sides: top and bottom panels 110 andtwo end panels 120. Two short flaps 130 extend from the end panels 120and two long flaps 140 extend from top and bottom panels 110. The twolong flaps 140 are sized so that they do not meet to completely closethe box; rather, all the flaps 130, 140 together frame an opening 150 inthe carton, with overlapping flaps 130, 140 in each corner. Tape can bewrapped from the long flaps 140 to the ends 120 to seal and stabilizethe carton, or the overlapping flaps 130, 140 can be glued or otherwisefastened together to seal the carton. This carton design is used forshipping lightweight containers of snack foods, such as chips. Toconvert the carton to display, the stocker removes the top half ortwo-thirds of the carton by cutting a line completely across each of theshort flaps 130 and end panels 120. This creates a tray 150 having shortedges that hold the product in place yet provide high visibility toconsumers. FIG. 1B presents an idealized conversion to a display carton100′ with perfectly straight edges that neatly bisect panels 120 and 130to create shortened sides 120′ and 130′. The ability to make this neatof a transformation is desirable, but rarely obtainable. Often, theperson stocking the product is in a hurry, so the actual cuts are rarelythis straight or this neat. Further, the stocker must carry a knife andmust take care not to cut the product during the process of convertingthe carton to display. In other carton designs, extra layers ofcardboard are sometime included beneath the cut lines; these layers areused to protect the product during cutting, but add to the expense.

One alternative to cutting the carton is to use special tear striptapes, such as those offered by 3M Corporation. These tapes can be usedto make an easy-to-open carton that has a neat appearance, but they addsignificantly to the cost of the carton.

A third alternative is to provide perforations in the cardboard itselfso that sections of the carton can be quickly removed for display. Thismethod is inexpensive, but has problems of its own. FIGS. 2 a and 2 bare taken from U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,875 to Praetorius and demonstrate aprior art method of turning a shipping carton 200 into a display carton200′. Perforated lines 202 make a U-shape, defining a removable strip204 that includes the larger flap 206 of the lid. Additional perforatedlines 208 allow the smaller flaps 210 to be removed, creating the opendisplay carton 200′. However, it can be difficult to obtain a cleantear. This is especially true at the edges of the carton, where the tearhas to turn a corner. The strength of the cardboard is enhanced by theadjacent wall, so additional force is needed to tear. At the same time,the direction of the force needs to change abruptly; it is difficult toprovide the extra force in a controllable manner. Too often tearingacross a corner results in ragged edges that are less appealing.Additionally, the perforations create weakened sections of the cartonthat can accidentally tear, often when the package is being assembled.The carton of FIG. 2 a is exemplary of this. When the blank is beingfolded to form the carton, care must be taken when making the verticalfolds 212; otherwise the cardboard may accidentally fold along theweakened line of perforations 202, further weakening the line ofperforations 202 and causing premature tearing. Likewise, the folds atthe base of flaps 210 are weakened by the perforated lines 208. Thepre-mature removal of the flaps 210 would leave a gap in the shippingcarton 200. Because of these problems, this method has thus far provedto be inexpensive but less than ideal.

Consequently, it would be desirable to have a carton that is easilyconvertible from a shipping carton to a display carton, presents a neat,pleasing appearance for display, does not tear prematurely, requires notools, and adds little or nothing to the cost of making the carton.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Difficulties with using perforated lines to remove sections of a cartonare related to two problem areas: 1) having a line of perforations thatparallel a nearby folding line and 2) the difficulty in tearing aperforated line that crosses an edge of the carton. In recognizing theseproblem areas, the invention sets as design criteria that a) noperforated line should parallel an adjacent fold line in the design andb) if a line of perforations crosses an edge of the carton, a precutopening should be provided at the juncture.

With these design criteria, it is possible to design a carton that meetsall the desirable criteria discussed. The carton can be converted todisplay by removing one or more sections of cardboard bounded byperforated lines, using no tools. The difficulty in tearing around edgesof the carton is removed by the pre-cut openings, permitting a neat,pleasing appearance. Because the perforated lines do not paralleladjacent fold lines, premature tearing is lessened or eliminated.Finally, this is a change in design that does not add to the cost ofmanufacturing the carton.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are setforth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well asa preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, willbe best understood by reference to the following detailed description ofillustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 a depicts a prior art design for a shipping and display carton;FIG. 1 b shows an idealized version of that same carton after conversionto display;

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b depict a prior art carton having perforations to aidin separating sections of the carton;

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b depict two views of a shipping and display cartonaccording to a preferred embodiment of the invention, FIG. 3 c shows thecarton of FIGS. 3 a and 3 b after conversion to a display carton;

FIG. 4 depicts the layout for the shipping and display carton of FIGS. 3a and b; and

FIG. 5 depicts a shipping and display carton according to an alternateembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b show a shipping and display carton according to apreferred embodiment of the invention. This carton 300 has the samebasic shape as the prior art cartons 100 of FIGS. 1 a and 1 b, but usesthe guidelines set forth above, namely that a) no perforated line shouldparallel an adjacent a fold line in the design and b) if a line ofperforations crosses an edge of the carton, a precut opening should beprovided at the Juncture. Unless otherwise noted, identical elementnumbers used in common between drawings are to substantially similarelements in the drawings. As seen in FIGS. 3 a and 3 b, which are viewsfrom opposite ends of the carton, perforated line 332 runs from one edge335 of the flap 130 almost to the edge 337 of the carton, where itterminates in a precut hole 350. The precut holes 350 wrap around thecorner, so that there is no need to tear around a corner, the mostcommon place for an accidental tear to happen. Perforated lines 322 runfrom each of four precut holes 350 to meet in another precut hole 355 inthe center of the end panel 120. In this embodiment, the precut holes350, 355 each have a width that ranges from ¼ to ⅝ inches and a lengthof 2¼ inches. A stocker need only grab the edge 335 of flap 130 and pullto quickly and cleanly separate section A from the rest of the carton.Four such moves and each of the corresponding sections B, C, D isremoved, leaving the lower portion of the carton as a display tray 300′,as seen in FIG. 3 c.

In order to keep the tears along the perforated lines clean, theperforations and lands (spaces between the perforations) should both bein the range of ⅛ to ½ inches each. In the specific embodiment shown,the perforations are ¼ inch, while the lands are 3/16 inch.Additionally, at the beginning of each perforation line, the beginningperforation is longer, in the range of ½ to 1 inch in length, to be surethat the tear starts well. In the embodiment shown, the leadingperforation is ¾ inch. These dimensions allow the cardboard to tearneatly, but provide enough strength to the carton that it will remainintact during shipping.

A blank for a corrugated cardboard box refers to the flat sheet ofcardboard that has been cut into a necessary design and scored so thatit will fold most easily along the desired lines. A blank is formed by arotating die that can cut, score for fold lines, and perforate a sheetof corrugated cardboard in a single pass. FIG. 4 depicts a blank thatcan be assembled into the carton of FIG. 3 a. Since all cuts and foldinglines are made at the same time, the addition of the perforated linesand precut holes does not affect the cost of production. A manufacturerswitching from making the box of FIG. 1 a to the box of FIG. 3 a wouldhave to have changes made in the die used to make the boxes, but noadditional costs beyond the die. As can be seen from FIG. 4, this is apurposefully simple design. Long fold lines 302 run the length of thepattern, between the flaps 130,140, and the body 110, 120′. From thisperspective, it is clear that none of the perforated lines parallel“adjacent” fold lines. For the purposes of this disclosure, fold linesare considered “adjacent” to perforated lines if they are not separatedfrom the perforations by a cut or other fold line. Thus, perforationlines 332 run parallel to the fold lines 304, but these lines are notadjacent. Each fold line 304 terminates at a cut 306 and is separatedfrom perforation lines 332 by a cut 306 and a fold line 302. Fold lines302 are perpendicular to the perforation lines 232.

FIG. 5 shows a shipping and display carton 500 according to an alternateembodiment of the invention. This design has perforation lines 332 andprecut holes 350 on flap 130′, but the perforated lines 422 on end panel120″ curve up and down, similar to a sine wave. In such a manner, theperforated lines 422 are not parallel to the edges of the carton, whichare formed at fold lines 304.

Two specific embodiments of the invention have been disclosed. However,one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that one can modify thedimensions and particulars of the carton, as well as the specific designof the perforated lines, without straying from the inventive concept.

1. A method of making a carton for shipping and displaying a product, said method comprising: a) forming a cardboard blank for a carton, said forming step comprising the steps of: cutting a sheet of cardboard to form a blank for a carton, forming a plurality of fold lines in said blank, forming a plurality of perforated lines and precut openings in said blank that define an opening line by which adjacent portions of said carton can be separated; b) folding said blank into a desired shape; and c) fastening at least one portion of said blank to a second portion of said blank to hold said blank in said desired shape; wherein said opening line crosses at least one fold line of said carton; wherein any portion of said opening line that crosses a fold line of said carton is formed by a precut opening.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step c) comprises gluing a first flap to a second.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step a) comprises cutting a sheet of corrugated cardboard.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said perforated lines formed in said step a) do not parallel adjacent ones of said fold lines formed in said step a).
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein step a) provides that at any point where two of said perforated lines intersect, an opening is cut.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein step a) provides that each of said perforated lines begins with a lead perforation having a length of ½ to 1 inch.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the perforations and lands of said perforated lines created in step a) are ⅛ to ½ inches in length, with the exception of a lead perforation, which is longer. 